S.C. Highway Patrol officials confirmed Friday that a state trooper was involved in a June 23 shooting that resulted in the death of a Williamsburg County man.

S.C. Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Stephen Gardner was involved in a confrontation that ultimately ended in the death of Calvin O'Neal Keels Jr., 22, of Greeleyville, S.C. Department of Public Safety spokesman Sid Gaulden said Friday.

Gardner already had asked to take vacation this week before the fatal shooting occurred. When Gardner returns to work, he will be put on administrative duty pending the outcome of the State Law Enforcement Division's investigation of the shooting, Gaulden said.

"We know that the trooper was acting as backup to Williamsburg County sheriff's deputies and was involved in a confrontation with the suspect, Mr. Calvin Keels," Gaulden said. "As to who did what, we don't know yet. We won't know that until SLED completes its investigation."

What officials do know is that Keels was shot about 2 a.m. June 23 and died several hours later at Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital in Columbia.

Supplemental incident reports released by the Williamsburg County Sheriff's Office indicate Keels was shot after sheriff's deputies went to his residence to question him about an incident at a nightclub hours earlier.

Williamsburg County Chief Deputy Sheriff Dwayne Wilson said none of his officers discharged a firearm during the confrontation.

According to the initial Williamsburg County Sheriff's Office incident report, the chain of events leading to the shooting began the night of June 22 when the owner of Red Bear Nightclub on U.S. Highway 52 South in Kingstree reported that a man by the nickname of "Kilo" had fired a gun at him.

The owner said the man wanted to buy alcohol, but he refused to sell him any. The club owner said an argument ensued and he tried to leave the club. The owner said as he was pulling out of the parking lot, the man shot at him.

The owner told deputies that he continued down the road but waited for a white Chevrolet Blazer in which the man was riding. He said he followed the car and got the license tag numbers, according to the supplemental reports.

Through a vehicle records check, deputies learned the car belonged to Deloris Woods and went to her home to question her about the incident at the club. When they arrived, a woman at the residence told them that Robert Bernard Woods Jr. had been driving the car that night.

When questioned about the incident at the club, Robert Woods admitted to driving the Blazer but said Keels fired the gun at the club's owner.

From the Woods residence, deputies proceeded to Keels' residence. Upon arrival, according to the report, deputies noticed lights on upstairs and a man looking out the window.

"I began knocking at the front door and identifying myself as a sheriff deputy," Deputy Wayne McFadden wrote in his supplemental report.

"At that point, the lights went out and I could hear subjects running inside the residence," McFadden wrote. "I continued knocking at the door, but no one would open the door. Upon one last attempt at the door, the homeowner, Calvin O'Neal Keels Sr., opened the door."

According to his report, McFadden asked the elder Keels which room his son was in, to which he replied, "He's not here." McFadden said he told the elder Keels he knew his son was in the residence because he'd heard the two talking while he was knocking on the door.

McFadden said in his report that it seemed the elder Keels was creating a diversion to keep the deputies at the front of the house while his son crawled out a rear window.

Within minutes, officers at the back of the house confirmed McFadden's suspicions, alerting the officers at the front of the house that the younger Keels was indeed leaving through a back window.

"At that point, I heard two shots, then three, and observed the subject, Calvin O'Neal Keels, running through (a nearby) property," McFadden wrote in his report.

"The subject, Calvin O'Neal Keels, ran toward C.E. Murray Boulevard and fired one shot toward Sgt. (Brenda) Lambert and myself," he said in the report. "I took cover and we called for backup."

SLED's investigation is continuing, according to SLED Chief Robert Stewart.

As standard procedure in any case in which a Highway Patrol officer fires his service weapon, Gaulden said, the Department of Public Safety's Office of Professional Responsibility will conduct its own investigation of the shooting once the SLED probe is complete.